Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Revised wandering monster tables: Levels 7-9

Here's the last of my revised charts, based on my expanded wandering monster tables for Holmes basic from last year.  My thanks to Zenopus Archives, whose comment sparked this revision and whose blog is a treasure trove for enthusiasts of the old blue box basic Dungeons & Dragons set. 

So here are the wandering monster charts for the deepest dungeon levels.  Note these include some new monsters for Holmes basic:

Seven Levels Below Ground         Die 
Champions*/Pilferers* (2-5/1-6)    1
Enchanters*/Lamas* (1-3/2-5)       2
Brass Dragon (1)                   3
Hill Giants (1-3)                  4
Black Dragon (1)                   5
Griffons (1-4)                     6
Anti-Paladin** (1)                 7
Trolls (2-12)                      8
Rangers**/Paladins** (2-8/1-6)     9
Black Pudding (1)                 10
White Dragons (1-2)               11
Hydrae (1-2)                      12
 

Eight Levels Below Ground         Die 
Vampire (1)                        1
Hill Giants (2-7)                  2
Black Pudding (1)                  3
Black Dragons (1-2)                4
Chimera (1)                        5
Djinni (1)                         6
Stone Giants (1-4)                 7
Super Heroes*/Rogues* (2-5/1-6)    8
Warlocks*/Patriarchs* (1-3/2-5)    9
Red Dragon (1)                    10
Purple Worm (1)                   11
Brass Dragons (1-2)               12
 

Nine or more Levels Below Ground  Die
Chimerae (1-2)                     1
Storm Giant (1)                    2
Vampires (1-3)                     3
Frost Giants (1-4)                 4
Red Dragons (1-2)                  5
Fire Giants (1-3)                  6
Cloud Giants (1-2)                 7
Purple Worm (1-3)                  8
Evil Wizard*** (1)                 9
Evil Lord*** (1)                  10
Evil High Patriarch*** (1)        11
Master Thief*** (1)               12 


*Character class: see the rulebook and The Holmes Companion for details.  Assume standard weapons and armor.  Check for magic items as for high-level types under the Bandit entry in the Monster List in the rulebook.  Characters of level four and higher will sometimes (50%) employ 2-12 first- or second-level monsters as guards (choose or roll randomly).
**New monster: see Super Galactic Dreadnought blog for details.

***Character class: see The Holmes Companion for details.  These denizens will always possess consummate magic items and have appropriate underlings accompanying them: e.g. a Lord will direct his guard of lower-level fighting men and perhaps trained war dogs or an owlbear; a Wizard will have an apprentice or two and a summoned/captured creature such as an elemental or a djinn; an EHP will command hordes of undead or possibly a demon, while a Master Thief will call upon fellow guildmembers or even poison-wielding assassins. 

We also need a new chart to tell you which level to roll on for the wandering monsters (the last one had a typo).  Look for that next.

1 comment:

Zenopus Archives said...

Great work & thanks for the mention. I'll be sure to plug your compiled table once you get it together.